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Report from the IWG Global Conference on Women's Sport

I feel as though my whole world has been turned upside down. And in a very geographical sense it has been. That’s because I am on the last leg of a 27 hour journey home after spending a week down-under in Sydney attending the IWG global conference on women and sport.

My boss Sue and I were lucky enough to be asked to attend and present some of the work that we have been doing here at WSFF and to hear from over 500 people from 60 nations about women’s sport around the world.

It was fair to say that we left the UK shores last week not really knowing what to expect in terms of what other countries have been doing for women’s sport so I suppose that we weren’t surprised to find that it’s a really mixed picture.

There were some projects that really inspired us – the ANZ netball championship in New Zealand and Australia for example is a great illustration of how to make a commercial success of women’s sport and to make household names of the best female sports stars.

On the other hand though there were lots of presentations from Africa and the Middle East where for either cultural, economic or religious reasons girls were finding it very difficult to play any sport at all.

As with any conference though, just as valuable as the lectures, was the networking and making connections with people facing similar issues all around the world. A highlight on the first day was when Sue and I got to meet Cathy Freeman who in 2000 became the first Australian woman from an aboriginal background to win an Olympic gold medal. She truly was inspirational.

It was great to have so many representatives from around the world come up to Sue and I after our presentations and congratulate us on our work in the UK and I felt really proud of the progress that we are making. At the same time there are lots of great projects in other countries and I’ll be working hard in the next few months to try and put in place some of the best ideas from around the world.

On a personal level my presentation about the Commission on the Future of Women’s Sport went down really well, although sadly I failed to weave the word “didgeridoo” into my talk as challenged by the WLDP women!

So its back home now and time to prepare for the next two international get togethers of women’s sport enthusiasts. First in London in 2011, Britain is playing host to the European Women and Sport conference and then in 2014 the IWG on Women and Sport hold their next get together in Finland. Probably less chance of seeing a Koala in Finland, but I hope to see you there!